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I found out Mielu(Lamb) is in Spain. He is tiny for his 10 years old. Did not go much to school until this year when he became addicted to the football on Saturdays. Parents in prison for a different type of addiction : drugs. His uncles are linked to some of the strongest criminal gangs in Ferentari. They took him abroad. In the best case scenario he is begging there. He used to go to school and came regularly to the football on Saturdays. The scary part is that I can’t be sure if it is better or worse for him being there than living in the ghetto here. The picture down here is from this week-end. Bogdan’s mother was taken to prison – trafficking drugs from Spain to Romania is the word in the ghetto. His father is dying and his brother is on his way to prison too. He is a great kid. Football is the main reason why he is fine. He plays for a football club. Discipline and hard work that comes with being in a team helps him a lot.

I went to see Siminica- Toto’s mother. Sile- Toto’s uncle was fixing some broken headphones. Crammed in Siminica’s room of a flat (20 squares meters that include a bathroom , a kitchen) live now 5 people including a baby. The baby is seriously sick as she used drugs while pregnant. She charges money from people that come and shoot safely drugs in her flat. There is not state facility in Ferentari for the swelling number of drug addicted anywhere despite the huge health risk. The stairways of the apartment buildings are always full of drugs. Here an example from this week-end. Ilie, the other uncle is back from prison and works wherever he can. He is trying to find money to buy a bus ticket for Spain. He is off drugs but his health is not good. Ion, the last of Siminca’s brothers is in prison. Drug trafficking.

Ionut was back to the training and is back to school. He is almost 15 .The jacket for 10 years old fitted him well. He promised he will bring Silviu back to training on Saturdays. In this way we can make sure he is ok and get for him the most basic things he needs like we did in the past.

At the “Adapost”( the center for partially abandoned children) the numbers shoot up due to the cold weather. Some of the last winter children are back. A 12 years old that never went to school is new there. Hopefully from February he will go for the first time to school. It is very unlikely he will stay in school but it is worth to try. Nobody gave Mitica or Toto a chance and they are doing great.

At the “Adapost” things are ten times better than in the center for abandoned children next by. Extreme violence, abuse and over-medication are some things that do not happen here. Still the children have little chances to make it. There are too many reasons why their chances to be successful are significantly lower to fit in here. We did homework with some of them. Nobody seemed to bother to do homework with Bianca – she is deaf and nobody is trained to work with here. She was very happy to do homework. Denisa is taking care of her. She is a child herself but she is amazingly gentle with Bianca.

Then there are the people that help. That know how hellish some of the lives of these children are. Know that some and sometimes many have lice. That their clothes smell bad and their feet might stink. That real help takes years and results might not be that great. That some if not most are Roma. That I am also Roma. And they still come. It feels great to see them every week-end. I asked for help and we received enough money to cover the needs for shoes for this winter and probably the entire year need for sport shoes is covered. It was enough even to buy some of the much needed winter jackets.

We have now a washing machine in the ghetto which might make socks and clothes last a lot longer than before. Monica face when I brought it up was the best reward one could get for a gift. Monica has nothing, is seriously sick but she never shies away of helping. As are some of the other people in the ghetto that do amazing acts of kindness despite living in what many of us will think is a hell. I know a policeman that arrests youth on bogus charges. He does it because he cares. Prison is the only chance most of those arrested will survive the winter or their spiraling addiction.

I hope what I write helps. I failed enough times to think that the situation of ghettoes in Europe could change fast to the better. But it is possible to change some lives. And it feels great to be among some of you, those that are trying to do it.

The last days have been “ a sensation” as Mitica will say. And is not only that a German/Romanian became the president of Romania proving that we, Romanians, are neither extremist nationalists or cretins as some of those who ruled us thought . Not because Romania beat Denmark and Mitica was on the stadium enjoying VIP status and spent time with a very kind and patient president of the Romanian Federation. The main reason is neither that I moderated (probably for the last time) some of the people I like the most from the Aspen Fellows Romania nor that I enjoyed a lot seeing the long faces of some of the worst propagandists ( can’t call them journalists) from Antena 3 and RTV ( TV stations controlled by corrupt moguls supporting the PM) as they saw the result of elections and the explosion of happiness in the streets.

The reason was that you made me poorer. I thought it was a good idea to ask for donations from people and match them in order to get much needed shoes and winter boots for the children I work with in the week-ends. I thought I will get 10 maximum 20 pairs.

So I ended up buying lots of shoes. And jackets. And socks. I am a bit poorer but I feel incredible. I have no idea how could I thank you. The best thing I could wish for you is to feel the same like I feel. There is nothing better. There are too many of you to list in order to thank to all of you that helped now and in the past. But you know who you are. And I know you and that makes me a much better man than I thought I could be. Thanks. And Vlad – happy birthday – you are an inspiration to me.

In the last years there were a good number of people appointed in “special” or “high” decision making positions dealing with Roma issues.

The only “special” things about all of them were their incredible lack of expertise to deal with Roma issues at the moment of their employment and the very “high” level of delusional, contradictory and empty rhetoric they all seemed very capable of delivering .Ex- commissioner Reading is the embodiment of such “specials”.

The fact that none of them were Roma is nowadays a banality as it is the profound structural racism within the intergovernmental and governmental institutions when it comes to the representation and participation of Roma at the decision making level. International NGOs are not doing much better.

The hypocrisy of most of the appointments as senior managers within intergovernmental institutions and national governments when it comes to Roma ( and more often nowadays human rights issues and social inclusion in general) is strident if one cares to examine the discrepancy between glorious lip-service and pathetic concrete actions.

Bureaucracies are famous in being exceptionally risk adverse and conservative the very opposite of innovation. Ironically most of the intergovernmental ones are very keen on innovation at the level of discourse. The “specials” were/are a perfect reflection of the institutions that employed them. Their words are revolutionary while their actions were practically same as previous ones. In this way we ended up with most of the Roma budgets being spent on what is most familiar to bureaucrats –conferences, papers and word production. Rationalising giving away Ungaro scarfs and bringing Roma musicians for entertainment at luxurious and at the same time ridiculous and useless events seemed to be the only “innovations”.

None of the “specials” proved to be capable to think, find or implement focused, easy, cheap and fast to medium term (4 years maximum) solutions that could lead to a break of the vicious cycle of exclusion facing a majority of Roma. None of them quit during their mandates despite of many catastrophic failures or embarrassments. Being hugely overpaid seemed to be the only sanction they had to put up with.

What could make a “special” truly special.

Genial ideas, courage, capacity to adapt fast and legitimacy based on concrete results, inspirational should do it. Considering the overall situation nowadays even a normal spine, a minimal common sense, some basic concepts about ethics, basic understanding of racism and empowerment and an energy level above comatose might make a huge difference.

A few things the “specials ” should do.

Prepare one or more of the many very smart and courageous Roma to became the next “specials”. Not only that will give a hint of credibility to his/her position but could be a concrete action to prove that the rhetoric about “Roma empowerment” is not an empty one.

Promote and fight for the idea of an independently administered European fund for watch-dog organisations fighting racism and corruption. A good part of that funding should focus on fighting anti-Gypsyism. Such a fund can solve the problems we have nowadays with Hungary, Russia or Azerbaijan some of the countries that seem to prefer to have no such watch-dogs. It should be based on contributions from Member States , administered by some of the real specials we do have in Europe and distributed to some of the brave but dying watch-dog organisations in the countries we need them the most.

Revive and improve some of the good previous initiatives that were left to die by incompetent “specials” before. European Roma Platform, The Road Map of the Spanish Presidency, OSCE Action Plan for Roma and Sinti are just some of those.

Come up with a working plan that make sense and that has clear time-frames and nexuses ( meaning strategic goals that can lead to a cascading change). Such a plan should be based on real life niches, incentives and opportunities and not on delusional fantasies based on virtual interaction with Roma . Such plans should have clear indicators for failure and the “specials” jobs should depend on it. Points a, b and c could be part of this type of plans.

All the “specials” before were incapable to focus or did not want to expose their own uselessness. They talked about everything and achieved almost nothing. None of them were accountable to anybody. The coordination among the different “specials” remains a mess.

This archetype of “specials” is unfortunately very present within the elites of the civil society in general including Roma movement.

It is not hard to change the status quo. But changing it, means indeed to be special. The title ,only, doesn’t suffice. The unspecials need to go or be retired.

PS. We all make mistakes. The Ungaro scarfs is a huge one. The fact there is no recognition of it within the European Commission is a lot more worrisome than the mistake itself.

PPS. The idea that people appointed in these senior positions can learn whatever they need to learn and more important is for them to know the system of the institutions they work for is simply inept. Learning how an institution works is much easier than having expertise in Roma issues.

To make it clearer : nobody employs a janitor with 30 years experience in cleaning an University as the professor of nuclear physics regardless of how well he/she knows the University, how connected she/he is or how many years she/he has until reaching the retiring age.